


The r/K Continuum

by saliache



Series: Destiny Drabbles [2]
Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Drabble, Ecology, Gen, Meta-analysis, Savathun shitposts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:02:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26523364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saliache/pseuds/saliache
Summary: What defines the survival of a species? A look at the strategies of the most reproductively fittest of the major sentient species of the Solar System.
Series: Destiny Drabbles [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1928614
Kudos: 4





	The r/K Continuum

In humans there exists a mode of thought. It goes like this:

There are two types of species; ones who have few children and lavish resources upon them to keep them alive, and ones who have many children and let the strongest survive to breed.

Humans, of course, belong to the first type. Most humans have less than a dozen children throughout their lives, and much of their maturity is spent guiding their offspring to reproductive success.

Hive belong to the second type. Most thrall die as thrall. Most acolytes die as acolytes. Most wizards and knights never become greater. There are a hundred false forms for every true morph that brings a Hive strength.

The Cabal have transcended this divide with their cloning vats, their hundreds of thousands of millions of warriors spawned from birth carefully pre-selected to be strong, and those who become the strongest are lavished with further strength.

The Fallen can afford to be neither. They have not the resources to care for their children nor spawn them in particularly great numbers. They are a dying species.

The Vex do not adhere to standard Human concepts of reproduction. To try to define them thus would be folly.

Look at each species’ childrearing strategies, and you will understand their strengths and their weaknesses.

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact: The r/K selection paradigm has been mostly superseded by the life-history paradigm. Biology marches on!


End file.
